brooks



(No Model.)

B. J. BROOKS. LEAD-AND WIRE SEAL.

I 0/2 aum,

Patented Sept. 28. 1886.

Inventor- Edward Jjfiroa s, m a; 444/2237".

N. PETERS, Phowmhn n har, Wuhm um D. C,

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDWARD J. BROOKS, OF EAST ORANGE, NE\V JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO E. J. BROOKS & OO., OF NEV YORK, N. Y.

LEAD-AND-WIRE SEAL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 349,873, dated September 28, 1886.

Application filed August 27, 1886. Serial No. 212,006. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, EDWARD J. BROOKS, a citizen of the United. States, residing at East Orange, in the State of New Jersey, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Lead-andvVire Seals, of which the following is a specification.

This inventionis additional to certain of my improvements in lead-and-wire seals hereto- 1o fore patented, particularly those set forth in United States Patents No. 179,260, dated June 27, 1876, and No. 298,665, dated May 13, 1884.

It relates with the former to the adaptation i 5 of ordinarythick wire,as it may be termedthat is to say, wire which is round or square in cross-section-for use singly, in combination with seals proper of lead, to form cheap and secure sealing devices; and it relates with :0 said improvement patented May 13, 1884 to the concentration of the holding capacity of anchoring projections on the shackles of leadand-wire seals against the withdrawal of either hackle end from the pressed seal by making said projections in the form of ratchet-teeth with faces toward the mid-length of the shackle.

In forming effective anchoringteeth of this general description on flat wire it was necessary to employ wide and relatively expensive 0 wire, and to form the teeth thereon by two distinct operationsnamely, by serrating the edges of the fiat wire and then bending them at right angles, so as to render the sides of the teeth perpendicular to the faces of the wire,

and the holding-surfaces of the teeth were limited as to area by the thinness of the flat wire. 1

I form much more effective ratchet anchoring-teeth on thick wire at a single operation, similar to file-cutting,each tooth having a fiat withdrawal resisting-face of relatively large area, and at the same time a sharper point, the latter facilitating the solidification of the lead around the wire at the pressing op- 5 eration, while said large flat face efficiently resists withdrawal. Such teeth may, moreover, he formed in three or more radial lines,

so that one or more rows of them shall in all cases be in effective position. (Those formed on flat wire can project in only one or two directions.) The shackle ends of my toothed thick wire are thus and otherwise adapted to interlock with each other without crossing the wire'if both shackle ends be inserted in one threading-hole in the lead, or so that the teeth on one end have access to those on the other, especially if they be inserted from opposite directions, and if the lead be drawn out in the direction of the shackle ends at the pressing operation, so as to draw the shackle ends to ward each other. Being formed by oblique incisions, as hereinafter more fully set forth, said ratchet anchoring -teeth on thick wire may, furthermore, be so proportioned to the breaking-strain of the toothed shackle ends as to make sure that the weakened wire will break sooner than yield otherwise to tensile strain.

The present invention consists in a lead-and wire seal having such peculiar ratchet anchoring-teeth on thick wire, and in the combination,with such tooth ed Wire,of a peculiarlyconstructed seal proper of lead which facilitates the interlocking of the shackle ends with each other within it,as aforesaid, and in a pe- 7 culiar method of fastening such seals, as aforesaid.

A sheet of drawings accompanies this specification as a part thereof.

Figure 1 of these drawings is a perspective view of the toothed shackle-wire of a seal illustrating this invention. Fig. 1 represents a magnified cross-section thereof on thelinexm. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of said seal applied to cardoor staples and ready for the pressing 8 5 operation. Fig. 3 is a front view, partly in section, of the same seal pressed. Fig. 4 is an edge view thereof with the lead in section on the line 4 4, Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a sectional face View of a seal ready for the press, illustrating 0 a modification. Figs. 6, 7, and 8 are sections representing other modified constructions of the lead. Fig. 9 is a perspective view of a toothed shackle-wire square in cross-section; and Fig. 9 represents a magnified section on the line 2' .2, Fig. 9.

Like letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several figures.

My improved seal, in either form thereof, is composed of a peculially-toothed shackle, W, of thick wire, and a seal proper, L, of lead, hereinafter simply termed the lead.

Each threading end of said shackle-wire is provided with ratchet anchoring-teeth t, integral therewith, and preferably in three or more equidistant radial lines, as represented by Figs. 1 and 9 Each of said teeth t has an inclined back, which facilitates inserting the toothed shackle ends in the threading hole chisel-pointed cutters, 0, Fig. 1, making ob-' lique incisions in the wire, and at the same time bending outward the partly-severed metal so displaced. The convexity of the sides of the wire secures the desirable sharp points of the teeth. In toothing square wire W, Figs. 9, 9 the salient angles naturally locate the teeth t and form their sharp points.

The several forms of lead L (shown in Figs. 2 to 7, inclusive) have, as features common to all, said holes h, broadly considered,and capability of being solidified upon the shackle ends Within them.

The lead L of the seal represented by Figs. 1 to 4has a single threading-hole, h, oblong in cross-section, with its longer axis parallel to the face and back of the lead, whereby it is adapted for the insertion of both shackle ends in one, and the same threading-hole, so that they will lie side by side and in one and the same plane, and at the same time will naturally interlock. with each other, not only preparatory to the pressing operation, so as to facilitate the latter, but within the solidified lead of the pressed seal, as represented in Figs. 3 and 4, so as to further preclude the withdrawal of either shackle end, and this is so accomplished without crossing the shackle ends, and thus within arelatively-thin and easily-pressed seal.

By inserting theshackle ends in opposite directions,as representedin Figs. 2, 3, and 4, and pressing the seal, so as to to draw outthelead longitudinally in solidifying it, as illustrated by Fig. 4, said interlocking of the shackle ends in the most secure manner is insured. The lead may be so pressed by dies having curved faces which bend the wire transversely, as rep-' resented in Fig. 4, or in my roller seal presses, (patented J une 2, 1885, and subsequently,) which elongate the lead in a very effective manner. At the pressing operation the lead is appropriately stamped with distinguishing marks or lettering m, Fig. 3, the characters of which may be large, as indicated,owing to said and adjacent to the cast-in end to receive the single-toothed threading end of theshacklewire. The cast-in end is identical with the other in the example, but might obviously be indented instead, as set forth in my said patent No. 179,260, or otherwise anchored, as the mode of fastening cast-in shackle ends forms no part of my present invention.

The lead L, Fig. 6, is adapted to be threaded like that shown in Figs. 2 to 4, but has two threading-holes,h,neither of which extends entirely through the lead, so as to inclose the extremities of the wire. That represented by Fig. 7 has the oblong single hole h, first described, but is otherwise of the more common disk form. That represented by Fig. 8 has lengthwise through it, so as to be threaded either as shown in Figs. 2 to 5 or by inserting both ends in one and the same direction, as may be preferred.

Having thus described my said improvement in lead-and-wire seals, I claim as my invention and desire to patent under this specification- 1. In a lead-and-wire seal, the combination of the lead of a shackle of single thick wire having one or each end threaded into thelead and provided with ratchet anchoring-teeth, each of which has an inclined back, a radiallyprojecting sharp point, and a broad flat face, the faces of said teeth being directed toward mid-length ofthe shackle, substantially as herein specified.

2. The combination, in a lead-and-wire seal, of a shackle of single'thick wire having each end provided against withdrawal with ratchet anchoringteeth, and a seal proper of lead having a single longitudinal threading-hole oblong in cross-section into which hole the re- ICO spective shackle ends are threaded in opposite 1 EDWARD J. BROOKS.

Witnesses:

HENRY L. C. WENK. N. S. KLINE.

Cnrrection in Letters Patent No. 349,873.

It is hereby certified that in Letters Patent No. 349,873, granted September 28, 1886, upon the application of Edward J. Brooks, of East Orange, New Jersey, for an improve ment in Lead-and-Wire Seals, an error appears in the printed specification requiring correction, as follows: In line 94, page 2, the Word of at the commencement of the line should read with; and that the Letters Patent should be read with this correction therein that the same may conform to the record of the case in the Patent Oftioe.

Signed, countersigned, and sealed this 5th day of October, A. D. 1886.

[SEAL] H. L. MULDROW,

' Acting Secretary of the Interior. Oountersigned R. B. VANCE,

Acting Commissioner of Patents. 

